New (to me anyway) idea on framing cutouts faster

[Maryland Beekeeper]

Pick your medium of choice, (TB, frame) hot melt glue 2-3 bamboo skewers down each side, u now have a u when inverted , slide comb between skewers against TB/Frame, pull free ends of skewers together to grab comb and secure with twist tie, once fully attached by B's the skewers are easily removed. Will report results.
Cheers,
Drew

[ralittlefield]

I am not sure I understand what you are saying.

Are you suggesting the use of glued on wooden pieces instead of elastic bands or string to attach comb to a frame? Wouldn't you need to remove the bottom bar?

What do you see as the advantage of this method?

[My-smokepole]

I love my hinge frames. Cut comb put in frame close put in box
David

[Acebird]

Does the brood have to be mounted in a frame? I was thinking you could just have a box with spokes coming out of the bottom board and stand the comb between the spokes. If this box is on the bottom and another box with empty frames in it on top you could wait three weeks or less and all the brood would be out. Then replace it with another box of empty frames. Crush and strain any honey in the original comb or let them rob it out.

[Jim 134]

Does the brood have to be mounted in a frame? I was thinking you could just have a box with spokes coming out of the bottom board and stand the comb between the spokes. If this box is on the bottom and another box with empty frames in it on top you could wait three weeks or less and all the brood would be out. Then replace it with another box of empty frames. Crush and strain any honey in the original comb or let them rob it out.

Not me




BEE HAPPY Jim 134

[ralittlefield]

I guess that your suggestion would work Ace, but it seem to me that it would be simpler to just secure the comb in a frame, place it in a hive and be done with it.

What advantage is there in doing it the way that you have suggested?

[Maryland Beekeeper]

I'll make one up with old comb and post a pic
Dave, I did'nt see your hinge frame but think I know what you've got , Yes even better but harder to construct

[Acebird]

What advantage is there in doing it the way that you have suggested?

1 I think it would be quicker and less of a mess at the time of the cut out. (don't know)
2. Not knowing the age of the natural comb and what it has been exposed to I would want it out of my hive as soon as possible. Personal preference.

[Maryland Beekeeper]

Ace, concur on both points but more trouble for B's to start from scratch overhead, heat brood below both

[Acebird]

I wasn't thinking scratch I was thinking empty drawn comb above.

[Jim 134]

1 I think it would be quicker and less of a mess at the time of the cut out. (don't know)
2. Not knowing the age of the natural comb and what it has been exposed to I would want it out of my hive as soon as possible. Personal preference.

IMHO
1. Make the mess only 1 time and bee none
2. Not knowing the age of the natural comb I would rotate it out
3.I do not know what the bees are being exposed to (2 Mi.) around the hives at home or in a tree,or etc.




BEE HAPPY Jim 134

[Lburou]

Its hard to beat mounting the honeycomb in a frame from your equipment and securing it with a rubber band or wire.....Its messy and temporary, but it serves the purpose to anchor the bees to their brood in your hive. You can cut out the wild comb at a later time.


Backup 030.jpg
These combs are mounted up-side-down in the frames, I mount them right side up when I'm working by myself. Many use rubber bands. The advantage of the wire is that you can have a better approximation of the center of the frame by bending the wire to hold the comb toward the center of the frame. Rubber bands don't do that. Less interference between frames is safer for the bees when you remove the frames to inspect later -comb interference kills bees, sometimes the queen.
Backup 022.jpg
This colony was 25' up in a pecan tree. The homeowner noticed comb on the grass, looked up, and this is what she saw. Note the queen cells, the queen was lost on the fallen combs.

Backup 024.jpg

[tefer2]

Ha Ha, whats the suitcase for in pic 3?

[Acebird]

3.I do not know what the bees are being exposed to (2 Mi.) around the hives at home or in a tree,or etc.

Is it not true with a lot of cut outs that the home owner has tried poisons to rid their house of pests?

Lee it looks like what you are working on is mostly empty comb.
With exposed comb like that it had to be warm enough in the season so the brood didn't need to be covered. Also the appearance of capped queen cells makes me think that some hives could be had by just setting up swarm traps had this colony been left alone.

[BeeGhost]

I like the idea of nailing string to one side of the frame, laying the comb in the frame and then stringing the other side of the frame when the frame is full of cut out comb!

[dixiebooks]

Lburou- Why do you mount the cutout combs upside down? -js

[BeeGhost]

Lburou- Why do you mount the cutout combs upside down? -js

Maybe so when the brood hatches the bees will abandon the comb since they cannot store nectar in them because the cells are pointing down, and I don't believe the queen will lay in them either. Then he can cycle out the comb that could contain unknown contaminants.

[Maryland Beekeeper]

important considerations for me are being able to secure comb(w/ B's) to frame/TB with 2 hands while @ top of 30'ladder, @ 2am, working under red light over and hour since last cafe latte, woozy from venom, shall I contiue ....Go Ravens & Redskins !

[Maddox65804]

Maryland,

I do 20-30 cut outs a year and haven't had to put myself in that situation before. What caused you to have to work from the top of a ladder? or at night? That must have been a nightmare!

[Maddox65804]

The idea of using bamboo skewers is innovative though. How about using bamboo lath instead? More flexibility and more support...